Data storage systems are arrangements of hardware and software that include one or more storage processors coupled to arrays of non-volatile storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, electronic flash drives, and/or optical drives. The storage processors service storage requests, arriving from host machines (“hosts”) which specify files or other data elements to be written, read, created or deleted, for example.
Occasionally, a non-volatile storage device will either be filled with data or, in some cases, break down so that a new storage device will need to be purchased. In conventional approaches to purchasing storage devices, people who manage such data storage systems manually decide to purchase a data storage drive based upon their experience with such drives and other considerations, e.g., budget or usage.